A partisan of the “tourbillons” of Descartes.
Louis XIV dubbed him the père auxtourbillons. Taught natural philosophy and
chemistry at Le Mans.

Met Franklin during Franklin’s trip to Paris
(1767). Elected to the Royal Society of London
(1768). Author of various books on physics.
Published Histoire des premiers temps dumonde … (1777), in which he claimed that
Genesis must be read backwards in order to
understand its meaning. Sent a copy of this
work to Franklin (1783).